Dr. Laura Bechtiger is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Risk & Resilience research area of the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development led by Prof. Lilly Shanahan. Laura’s research focuses on understanding and describing developmental processes and trajectories of individual differences in mental health and other disadvantages, including intergenerational patterns of (dis-)continuities in psychological and behavioral tendencies.
Previously, she received her Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and PhD in Psychology from the University of Zurich, and also studied at the University of Padova, Italy. Laura is a graduate of the Max Planck International Research School on the Life Course (LIFE). In her doctoral dissertation, she examined links between maternal mental health and adolescent well-being in academic, (mental) health, and social domains. In all her current and previous research, Laura is working with data from multiple population-based prospective-longitudinal cohort studies and gained experience with various longitudinal data analysis methods.
Together with her colleagues, Laura is coordinating the R Peer Mentoring Group, a self-initiated group that aims to connect early-career researchers who use the software R for statistical analyses by organizing statistical workshops with experts, career talks, and social get-togethers (see more information here www.jacobscenter.uzh.ch/en/events/ecr/r-group.html).
Research focus:
- Risk factors for and sequelae of common mental health problems
- Population-based prospective-longitudinal cohort data
- Parental mental health and intergenerational processes of developmental psychopathology
- Social relationships, including peer and family relationships
Publications
ZORA Publication List
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Publications
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Childhood Risk Factors for Violent Ideations in Late Adolescence and Early Adulthood. Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health, 35(2):95-105.
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Disentangling the effects of self-control and the use of tobacco and cannabis on violence perpetration from childhood to early adulthood. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 34(3):1063-1074.
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Words versus Strands: Reliability and Stability of Concordance Rates of Self-Reported and Hair-Analyzed Substance Use of Young Adults over Time. European Addiction Research, 31(1):60-74.
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Early Adolescent Predictors of Young Adults’ Distress and Adaptive Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings From a Longitudinal Cohort Study. Journal of Early Adolescence, 44(9):1250-1280.
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Cannabis Use from Early Adolescence to the Mid-Twenties in Children of Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Parents: Findings from a Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction:1-22.
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Higher paracetamol levels are associated with elevated glucocorticoid concentrations in hair: findings from a large cohort of young adults. Archives of Toxicology, 98(7):2261-2268.
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Associations of psychoactive substances and steroid hormones in hair: Findings relevant to stress research from a large cohort of young adults. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 157:106369.
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Substance use in sexual minority youth: prevalence in an urban cohort. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 17(1):109.
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The worst and the best: new insights into risk and resilience in young adults from the COVID-19 pandemic. Adversity and resilience science, 4(3):291-305.
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An integrative approach for the analysis of risk and health across the life course: challenges, innovations, and opportunities for life course research. Discover Social Science and Health, 3(1):14.
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When Substance Use Is Underreported: Comparing Self-Reports and Hair Toxicology in an Urban Cohort of Young Adults. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 62(7):791-804.
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Self-, other-, and dual-harm during adolescence: a prospective-longitudinal study of childhood risk factors and early adult correlates. Psychological Medicine, 53(9):3995-4003.
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Pathways from Maternal Depressive Symptoms to Adolescent Well-Being: A 15-Year Longitudinal Examination. 2023, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts.
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Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Adolescents’ Unhealthy Behavior: A 15-year Longitudinal Study. Pediatrics, 150(4):e2022056562.
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Emotional distress in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence of risk and resilience from a longitudinal cohort study. Psychological Medicine, 52(5):824-833.
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Pathways from maternal depressive symptoms to children’s academic performance in adolescence: A 13‐year prospective‐longitudinal study. Child Development, 93(2):388-404.
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Polysubstance Use in Early Adulthood: Patterns and Developmental Precursors in an Urban Cohort. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 15:797473.
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High Prevalence and Early Onsets: Legal and Illegal Substance Use in an Urban Cohort of Young Adults in Switzerland. European Addiction Research, 28(3):186-198.
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Frequent teenage cannabis use: Prevalence across adolescence and associations with young adult psychopathology and functional well-being in an urban cohort. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 228:109063.